Many folks look at the words home business and automatically think of scams and there is no doubt that there are far too many home business scams just as there phishing sites, tech scams and every other type of scam online and offline – ain’t that the truth!

After reading Dave Cottrels blog post titled ,Scams, Scammers and Scam-busters I thought it might be useful for people, new and experienced to know the various ways to find out if the online business you are looking at is the real deal.

A lot of what I am going to say is based on my own experiences, which I hope will help others to not get scammed – trust me it sucks!

Before going into the various ways to spot home business scams, I have noticed there are so many ways of saying online home business such as:work at homehome based businessnetwork businessonline jobswork at home opportunities( and lets not even get into such phrases as internet marketing, online marketing, affiliate marketing so on and so forth.)

Heck there are times when I get some of them confused and tend to lump everything together because it is easier and similar as they all have to do with doing an action online.

Usually and over time we may figure it all out but I’m sorry to say that there are too many of us who have learned the hard way by losing our money which in turn helped us to lose our trust in any and all ways of creating an income using the different programs or offers that are shared online.( that was me being politically correct but hopefully accurate)

Like many people I had this holier than thou attitude when I came online, saying to everyone (and you should have seen my kids faces) I knew what I was doing, I was doing my “due diligence” and I was going to prove the world wrong and that it was possible to make an income online…Ya right!My due diligence by the way was to type in such phrases as

legal jobs onlineworking online legal workauthentic jobs onlinelist of online work that are legalcreating a legitimate business onlineand those are just a few of the phrases I used as I recall.

What happened? well lets see, the envelope stuffing work fell through..but I paid $49.95 to be told of companies that might be hiring people. Then there was the get paid for email proccessing and the data entry job where you only have to work a few hours a day and bingo you would get paid. This deserves a special section on its own! Did I mention I was really naive and DUMB!

Yes Alice there are real work at home or online home business, but typing in a few words in a search is no guarantee that what you see is what you’ll get!

Oh the horror of it all!

While I am kind of laughing now, back then I was devastated,embarrassed and sick to my stomach – how could I have been such an idiot and how did I get fooled so easily?

To be brutally honest and like many people, I was looking for something that would be easy to do, would be a part time job and fell into the trap of – its online there are lots of things a person can do online..right? once again you should have seen the look on my daughters faces..sigh!

To be fair and my only real excuse ( albeit a poor one) I was also unwell at the time, so going outside the home was almost impossible.

I am telling you all this, to let you know that I am talking from experience of how NOT to find an online business or opportunity and really you are not alone, even though you must feeling pretty darn silly as I did when caught in one or more of these scams.

If it helps you in anyway, the scammers are very good at what they do, they know human behavior and how to use words to convey or entice a person.

O.K lets get at it shall we?

Starting off with the spotting home business scams is the Job Scam

While this is not strictly about a home business I am adding it in because scammers have no boundaries, if you are reading any kind of advertising to find a job and that means TV, radio or online, be aware of wording such as:

1. “previously undisclosed” federal government jobs.

If you didn’t know this, all the federal jobs are free to the public.

2. Paying to get a job.Yes you heard right. These people will say they’ve got a job waiting, or guarantee to place you in a job, if you just pay a fee for certification, training materials, or their expenses placing you with a company. hmm does that sound fishy to you?

3. No experience necessary.

The reality is that you need to have some kind of experience to get any job.

4. You are asked for private and personal information.

There is no legal reason for any potential employer to ask for personal or financial information until AFTER you are hired and have verified that you are working for a legitimate company!

How to research Ways to spot home business scams

I know you must be sick and tired of hearing the expression “ If it is too good to be true it usually isn’t. Remember that when you read such things as

Make money while you sleepGet Paid DailyAutomated – No selling Work from home part timeearn $???.?? or more a month

and other such lovely subect lines.

Do yourself a favor and go the bottom of any site and read! Is there an earning disclaimer? Does the site have a privacy or TOS? Does it have such wording as “There is a risk involved?” Is it written in proper English with good spelling?These are all red flags and you need to walk away fast!

What looks legitimate isn’t always what it seems

There are those scammers who will create very good looking websites, that give the illusion of being legitimate and may even contain the name of a legitimate company. Do yourself a favor and see what the email address is – if it’s a free email, then that is a red flag. Think about it, would a popular or big company even think to use a free email? Nope!

Do I have to mention or even talk about the web sites that have the new cars, the babes in bikinis or the Palm trees? I hope not!

I have to love those sites that say they have big companies using their service. While there may be well known companies who really do use a service, you really need to think about it. Just because these people have used an association with a company does not always make them more trustworthy!

Now I know there are going to be people just a wee bit upset with me on this one, but if you are looking at any kind of opportunity, are you looking to be told a fairy tale of those poor people who were down on their luck, homeless or some other terrible thing and then bingo they got rich – or- you see those sites that are way cool and glamorous and there is this guy with that very cool voice showing you ,that you can get awesome cars or houses? Personally they might be good for entertainment, but what you are wanting to know is facts and information. When you ask good questions about the so called opportunity and no one will give you a straight answer that is a red flag to walk the other way!

..and now for the piece de resistance online data entry scams.

I guess after all these years I have a hard spot for this one ..not only was I suckered in ( yes my fault) I have seen others being suckered in also and it just makes me angry!

1. Process Rebates… SCAM! you are told that all you have to do is fill out online forms and you will get everything you need. Of course you have to pay a fee for them to send you the program you need. You might even get something in the mail, but when you try to get paid..no money sent!!

2. Transcription style jobs. Ya this is the one I fell for by the way. Transcription style jobs are considered a data entry style job. I had answered an ad, where I was “told” that this company would send me work which I would transcribe into data. The fact that at that time I couldn’t type very well as well as the fact that I really knew nothing about transcribing anything – was totally beside the point.

The other factor at that time I was slow as molasses when typing two fingered and I had just recently learned what a browser was. Of course it never entered my mind or the so called company’s mind to ask about these basic abilities. It looked good and so I spent over $250.00 get everything I needed. I honestly thought this was real – it looked real and felt real. Of course I never got anything and what hurt was at that time I couldn’t afford to pay for this type of thing.

Of course there are the real transcriptions services, but you have to do things like pass tests to see if you are good enough to do this kind of job…live and learn!

3. For anyone who is in the know, affiliate marketing is work and it is at times hard work. There are things like creating a web site, learning some SEO, learning how to communicate with people etc.

Unfortunately there are those people who will mislead you with false advertising, making an affiliate product/ service sound that you will become rich and you don’t have to pay a thing. That my friend is a scam and those people should be reported to the company offering the affiliate program.

To be honest this kind of misleading people really pisses me off as I know for a fact there are very good honest affiliate programs on the market and it drives me a bit crazy knowing that there are people doing this.

Dave covered a lot of good questions and food for thought regarding knowing how to tell if a company or opportunity is legitimate ( I love the PayPal idea btw)

Just as when you buy a car or buy a home you can be more prepared if you ask the owner, sales person affiliate marketer questions that will help you determine if an opportunity is legal and just as important right for you. Some of these questions you might consider are:

How long has the company been in business?

How do people get paid?

When people get paid has there been any problems?

What is the customer support for people in this home based business?

Do you provide good training to help people learn how to do marketing or promoting in ethical ways?

If this is selling or promoting business tools, are these tools of high quality or are they old and not being used anymore?

Is this something that is wanted global or local as in country or region?

Is this a product that is being used by others, is it timeless in it always being needed and does the product have a lot of competition?

What if the company goes out of business, will any money being owed to me be lost?

Where is this company located? Is there a phone number to reach the owner or staff?

What is the turnover for people being in this online home based business?

Do you have any set rules for advertising or promoting this type of business?

What happens if I find that I don’t think this is the right opportunity for me and I have spent money in this business, what are the guarantees if any and will I be able to get a refund?

If you are satisfied with the answers and explanations you have received, there is one part of the due diligence that you really should do and that is finding out about this business from others.

Dave talked about different scam-busters and how to be careful who you are dealing with. There is no doubt that just like anything on the net, you are going to find online sites where you will get good and objective answers to your concerns. Personally I usually stay away from online forums or message boards ( yes they are still around) as I have found most of them to be less than trustworthy.

As Dave also said using the Better Business Bureau as well as different government web sites are usually good places to go to if you are needing questions answered.

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Meet Diane (Blogneta)

Diane Bjorling has written 42 posts in this blog.

Nice to meet everyone, I'm the Adlandpro Blogging Community Admin and here to help you with your blogging needs. If you need anything let me know and I will do all I can to answer your questions or concerns.
Just have some fun.
Please note only those blogs that meet the guidelines will be published..
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8 Comments

Take a bow, Diane! Well done. This is the kind of ammunition every newbie (and a lot of well-scarred marketers) should have in their arsenal, before they ever set foot in the big bad world of network and/or affiliate marketing, online or off. Doing sober due diligence before laying out any money or putting any work into your business will save big in the long run.

Thanks Dave for the high compliment and I am taking a bow lol
You gave me the thought to expand on your well written blog post and I am hoping that this will help everyone..because boy do people need help to not get suckered by the bad ass scammers!

I am finally getting around to reading some of the blog posts. This is a very well written post. Another red flag is looking at the testimonials, see if they all say basically the same thing…. if they do, I’ve found that they are generally written by the same person.

This article is great for newbies, I recommend looking a company up on BBB Better Business Bureau, also if you are selling a product and you don’t do the work and learn the skills and take action on what you learn its not the company.

Scammed – Been there done that worn the tee shirt as the saying goes
I got started looking for home based work, way before the internet was somewhere to search, in those days it was answering adverts in The Exchange & Mart
Then floods of mail thundered through my letterbox, everything from illegal chain letters – to 100% circulars which entice newbies like I was with “Get £10 notes posted through your letter box” guess how much it cost? Yup £10
There were advertising sheets, which after you paid you were send a master sheet on which you re-place on advert with your own and then photocopied before posting off to some other unsuspecting punter as referred to

Time marches on and onto the internet where I experienced similar only more expensive scams, and a computer hard drive full of thing that didn’t provide help or training
Until I got into training with the company I have my own website hosted with, and began to understand just how money is really made online